Bed-pan



J. K. SMITH.

BED PAN (No Model.)

Patented Sept. 29, 1891.

' INVENTOR: we By his Azzomeys,

WITNESS S:

no'rmumm. WAQNINGTON o c UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JARED K. SMITH, OF KOLOA, HAWAII.

BED-PAN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters latent No. 460,288, dated September 29,1891. Application filed March 17, 1891. Serial No. 385,429- (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JARED K. SMITH, residing at Koloa, on the Island of Kauai, Hawaiian Islands, a practicing physician, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bed-Pans, of which the following is a specification.

The bed-pans heretofore in use are stiff and unyielding, requiring to be manipulated with great care to avoid causing pain, inconvenience, and sometimes injury to the patient and liable to spill their contents and soil the bed. It is also frequently necessary to lift the whole body of a patient to get the pan in position so that the natural functions maybe performed.

The method of constructing my improved bed-pan is illustrated in the following drawings, in which I t Figure l is a plan, and Fig. 2 1s a vertical section at or tc,Fig.1. Fig. 3 is a perspective.

The object of my invention is to furnish for the use of invalids a bed-pan which is pliable, efficient, and easily adjusted under the patient without pain, inconvenience, or danger of spilling its contents.

This bed-pan may be made of rubber, of leather, or of any material which can be made sufficiently elastic for the stiffer and thicker parts and sufficiently pliable for the other parts; or it may be constructed of two or more materials.

I first take an oblong piece of flexible rubher, leather, or other substance to form the bottom A of the pan, and which is sufficiently stiff to retain its general shape, while it will yield enough to pressure to fit the form of the patients body. bewed or otherwise fastened ,to the edges of the bottom, as by cementing,

like one side of a rubber water-bottle, is a cover B of soft pliable material, preferably rubber, which extends from each side and each end of the bottom toward the center, leaving there an oblong opening I) of suitable size, as seen in Fig. l. Across the lower 'end and at the sides 01": this opening are attached to the pliable cover suitable upwardly-projecting walls or flanges O C, composed of material similar to thebottom and having sufficient stiffness to cause them to stand perpendicularly upon the cover. A convenient height for these flanges is about two and the pan; or the pan maybe fitted with a ring at each upper corner, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, to aid in the adjustment of the pan When in use. The upper end of the pan, being composed only of the thickness of the bottom and the cover, is so thin that it may be slid under the body without raising the patient, this feature of my pan being frequently of great value, especially with very feeble patients.

when in use, any suitable absorbing material G is placed inside of the pan on the bottom. I have used with satisfaction a towel with the edges folded to make a raised edge along the front and sides of the bottom, and another towel or cloth may be folded and laid across the upper end of the pan which goes under the patient. The pan may be of any desired size. I have found twelve inches long by ten inches wide a good size for an adult patient. After use the absorbing material should be removed and cleansed and the pan should be washed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A bed-pan constructed of flexible material, with a bottom, a cover having an opening, and flanges projecting up around the opening, substantially as described.

2. In a bed-pan, the combination of a stiff but somewhat flexible bottom with a soft pliable cover and the stiff but flexible projecting flanges, as and for the purposes described.

3. In a bed-pan, the combination of an elastic bottom, a soft pliable cover, and elastic front and sides with an absorbent material within the pan, as described.

4. Abed-pan constructedofflexiblematerial,

. with a bottom, and a cover having an opening joined together-to form an elastic body which is tapered at the upper end of the pan to the thickness of the bottom and cover, thereby my name in the presence of two subscribing forming a. thin" yielding part beyond the openwitnesses. ing, which may be passed under the body of the patient without lifting him or giving pain, JARED SMI l 5 and flanges projecting up around said open- \Vitnesses:

ing, substantially as specified. ALFRED H. SMITH,

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed FRANCIS P. FARLEY. 

